The Kashmir Clay Rush

And why the National Green Tribunal's strongest orders cannot stop the loot of our karewas.

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and why the National Green Tribunal's strongest orders cannot stop the loot of our karewas.

I walked through Zadoora village in Pulwama this winter and saw something that turned my stomach.

Hillsides lay gouged open like wounds. Red earth stood naked under the sky. Trucks had carved deep ruts into what was once farmland. The air smelled of dust and diesel.

This was supposed to be protected land.

Kashmir's famous karewas, those flat-topped plateaus that hold our history in their layers, were disappearing, truckload after truckload.

I knew the law, and I had read the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act of 1957. I understood that clay, sand and bajri all count as minor minerals. I knew that anyone who wants to dig here needs Environmental Clearance from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority. This is mandatory and basic.

I also knew that the men doing this digging had papers in their pockets. District Mineral Officers had stamped their approvals, while District Magistrates had looked the other way. Everyone pretended these permissions meant something.

They mean nothing.

The Supreme Court settled this question in 2024. The case was Noble M Paikda versus Union of India. The court looked at these exact kinds of permits. It declared them null and void.

A DMO cannot give you permission to destroy a mountain. A District Magistrate cannot sign away our geological heritage. The law never gave them this power.

I wrote about what I saw. Then I did something more. I knocked on the door of the National Green Tribunal.

I picked two villages as examples: Zadoora in Pulwama, and Rangeen Kultreh in Chadoora, Budgam.